


The Highway Wolf

by Maone



Category: Alarm für Cobra 11
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2020-11-01 09:16:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20812709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Andre's away in another city and Semir lands himself a stalker





	1. Prologue

"Good afternoon, your documents, please."

The man Semir stopped gave him an odd look as he handed him the papers, Semir looked at him questioningly and the man smiled.

"Sorry officer, my head's in the clouds, I just thought you were pretty cute for a cop."

The unexpected admission gave Semir a pause, but he gave the stranger a polite smile in return and resumed with the paperwork.

"Thank you, well, I suppose I don't have to tell you why I stopped you, do I?"

The man continued to stare at him with a giddy grin.

"I don't know, I guess I was going a little too fast?" He suggested.

"A little, yes." Semir wrote down the man's ID,"90 in 60 zone."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice." 

"You didn't notice?" Semir raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Either way, I'll have to fine you."

The man leaned against his car window.

"Well fine was certainly the first thing on my mind when I saw you."

Semir sighed and tore off the ticket from his notebook.

"Look sir, as much as I'm flattered with your compliments, that won't stop me from giving you a fine," he handed the ticket to the driver, who took his sweet time to take it from his hand, much to Semir's discomfort.

"_Semir Gerkhan_,hmm, exotic....I hope you wrote down my phone number to your little notebook." The guy brushed his finger over Semir's palm.

"No, I haven't, I'm with someone already, goodbye." Semir snapped and harshly tugged his hand out of the grip and turned to leave.

"Don't be like that darling, I'm only teasing you, I hope we'll see each other again so I can make it up for this unfortunate meeting!" The driver called out after him as he swiftly made his way towards his patrol car.

He didn't hear the rest of what the man shouted as he got in his car and harshly slammed the door. Semir squeezed the steering wheel and took a deep breath.

"God, I hope not..." he muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

Semir returned to the station, he parked next to Tom's mercedes and greeted several colleagues heading out, he didn't think about his earlier incident much. Upon walking through the crowded main offices and dropping off the ticket report on Bonrath's table, much to the man's annoyance, Semir went straight to his office. He opened the glass door and saw his partner seated at his desk.

Tom looked up from what he was doing.

"Hey, where have you been? I thought you only went to run a quick errand and it's been-" he turned in his chair to look at the clock, "-two hours."

Semir shrugged off his jacket and threw it over his chair.

"Two hours huh? I'm close to your personal record of late arrivals, then." He chuckled. 

"What are you on about, I never came to work that late, oh, before I forget..." Tom shuffled through the paperwork on his table and tossed a note on Semir's half of the desk. Semir picked it up, noticing the familiar handwriting,"Andre left earlier to Kerpen and apparently forgot his phone at home, so here's a number to a borrowed one." He finished.

"He left already? Ah, damn it," Semir said regretfully and picked up the note and his phone, typing up the number,"I was hoping I'd be able to see him before he went, oh well."

Tom gathered th papers off his table and placed them at the corner of his desk in a neat pile.

"He'll be back in couple of days, won't he?"

Semir nodded and dialed the number.

Tom watched him with a grin, Semir caught the stare.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked suspiciously.

Tom shook his head and waved him off with a chuckle.

"Nothing, tell him I said hi." Tom said and got up from his seat, heading for the door to talk to Andrea. 

Semir opened his mouth to say something, but then Andre's voice carried through the speaker and his mind went elsewhere.

"Hi Andre, it's Semir, I'm sorry, I only just got back to the station....mhm, so how come you left your phone at home, Mr.Perfection?" Semir threw a glance at Tom who pointed at Andrea's desk outside and mouthed 'I'll grab assignment and then we'll go' Semir nodded and laughed at something Andre had said.

"It's probably under the bed, I'll look for it when I get home...yeah, well, that's what happens when you can't undress like the rest of us mere mortals."

When the door closed behind Tom, Semir's grin softened to an admiring smile.

"Of course I'm going to miss you, big guy."

****

Later, both partners received a visit from Engelhardt and soon they were heading out on the highway, not for the regular patrol, but to check out on a well known abandoned villa near the 11th kilometer of A4. It was a regular routine check as the place was commonly used for junkies and squatters.

Tom stopped the mercedes near the entrance and looked over the building with a wary look.

"When are they going to tear this down, honestly? The house is barely standing as it is, I can't believe people would willingly hang out there." He said.

Semir got out of car and walked towards what used to be the entrance, the villa has been demolished thorough the years by raiders and the place was littered with garbage, debris and windows and door replaced with empty holes.

"I don't know, maybe the city is just waiting for it to fall at this point," Semir jumped over a gap in the rotted floorboards, Tom followed in suit.

Once they entered, there didn't appear to be anybody present, not that they really expected anyone, there was nobody there when they went last time, so it was more of a walkthrough by this time. They shared a quick look and went in separate directions, looking through the rooms, just in case.

Semir walked through what once used to be one of the guest bedrooms, narrowly avoiding broken glass all over the floor, he spotted something reflecting on the bed, he stopped and pulled back a dusty old duvet.

A mirror.

He rolled his eyes and smiled.

_Of course, what else would reflect in a bedroom?_

He threw the old duvet back over the mirror and carefully headed out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so this one's kinda long and things are starting to get spooky. Hope you'll like this one :)

Semir didn’t like sleeping alone, as much as he was used to it before, he liked having someone next to him and Andre was always like a living furnace. It’s only been two days, and Semir was missing his lover’s presence. With a sigh, he rolled to his side, wrapping the satin blanket around himself and closed his eyes.

The street lamp illuminated the dark room in the pale shade of blue and the only noise that could be heard, was the sound of cars passing through the street and muted chatter of late pedestrians. 

Soon, sleep was finally enveloping his tired mind and any troubling thought slowly dissolved as drifted off into a deep slumber.

_ He walked the shadow of a derelict street. with all the windows empty and all the lights shattered. he looked around, searching for someone, anyone. _

_ His sleeveless arms wrapped around himself, it was so cold. Wasn’t it summer? Why was he freezing? Soon, the source of coldness emerged in a feeling of a lingering touch creeping up his spine. He shivered violently and quickly turned around, but saw nothing. So he kept walking, the street was endless, he kept passing by the same broken windows, the same overturned bins, as if he was walking in circles. _

_ Cold eyes bore into his back followed by the sound of claws dragging across the ground, hot breath puffed beside his ear and he found himself snapping his head around once more, yet there was nothing again, _

_ Helplessness and unease crept under his skin, and his eyes darted from side to side, feeling definite but unseen threat. _

_ Suddenly something wrapped around his neck and squeezed so hard, he could practically hear his throat breaking under the pressure, he wanted to scream, he wanted to- _

Semir jerked to wakefulness accompanied by the sound of his alarm clock. He sat up and ran a shaky hand over his sweaty face, gasping for breath he didn’t know he was holding.

The alarm continued to beep at him annoyingly and after several seconds of gathering his bearings; he reached over and turned it off.

He sat idly on the bed for a moment, before chuckling to himself.

“Andre’s gone for two days and you’re a mess already, great.” He took a deep breath and threw the blanket to the side as he got out of the bed.

As he got himself ready for work, he took a moment to check on his phone, which he left to charge overnight in the kitchen.

He paused when he found the device laying on the table and very much unplugged.  _ Odd _ , he thought,  _ I was sure I plugged it in _ .

Semir walked over and picked up the phone, glancing at the cord on the kitchen floor beside the table. 

He opened the phone to see that it was charged halfway through, so the cord must have fallen off sometimes during the night.

Shrugging it off as a simple inconvenience, he tucked the phone away in his pocket and headed for the door.

On his way out, he met one of his neighbours, he greeted the old man with a smile and his gesture was rewarded with a nod. As Semir stood by the elevator, waiting, the man paused in his steps and turned back to him.

“Where’s the other young man? Not working today?” He said suddenly and Semir looked up in surprise.

“No,no, he’s away for couple of days,Mr.Schreiner.” Semir smiled.

“Oh, really? I thought I’ve seen him yesterday.” The man said.

Semir shook his head.

“That’s impossible, he’s been away since Monday, it’s just me now.” He explained.

The old man muttered something under his breath and turned back around.

“Well, someone’s been making a racket in the hallway during late hours, I figured it must have been your friend. Unless Mrs.Keller found herself a new companion.”

Semir watched the old man limp his way towards his apartment, unsure what to think of his words.

He didn’t have time to give the whole situation much thought; the elevator arrived.

\---

Semir pulled up at the station and noticed that Tom’s car still wasn’t there, which wasn’t particularly unusual. It gave Semir time to fill out some of their unfinished paperwork in peace. As he headed in, greeting colleagues along the way, he was stopped by snickering Herzberger and equally gleeful Bonrath sitting behind the desk in the back.

“What’s so funny?” Semir asked with a raised eyebrow.

Herzberger pointed at his office.

“Someone left you a gift, looks like you’ve got yourself an admirer.” He said with amusement.

“Or someone mistook it for Andrea’s desk.” Bonrath added.

Semir looked warily at his office, seeing the door slightly ajar. He walked over and pushed it all the way open.

There in the middle of his desk, sat a red Salvia in a pot enveloped by a large ribbon and a note placed beneath it.

“Maybe Andrea’s trying to woo you?” His colleagues laughed behind him, ignoring their comments, Semir turned the lights on in the office and tugged the note from underneath the plant.

This definitely wasn’t your traditional bouquet and Semir wondered if Andre would do something like that for him, they’ve exchanged gifts already, but never any flowers. Semir opened the note.

‘I can’t wait until you’re mine, pet.’

He stared at the note, unsure what to think, but soon he heard the voice of his partner behind him and quickly crumpled up the note and shoved it in his pocket.

“What’s with the cheerful mood this early in the morning? Tom noted quizzically.

“Semir has an admirer!” Herzberger called out from his desk.

Tom raised an eyebrow and looked at Semir standing by their office door, awaiting him with less than amused expression.

“You do?” Tom asked curiously.

Semir shook his head.

“Some stupid joke.” He replied and moved to pick up the potted plant, carrying it over to Herzberger’s desk. “Here.”

His colleague stared at him in disbelief.

“What am I supposed to do with it?” He called after retreating Semir.

“You’ve got a garden, don’t you?” Semir retorted and shut the office door behind him, leaving his colleague speechless and turning to his partner helplessly. Bonrath shrugged.

\---

Tom watched as Semir practically slammed the door behind him and dropped in his chair across from him.

“What was that all about?” Tom asked.

“Like I said, someone’s stupid joke.” Semir repeated and turned on his computer.

Tom raised an eyebrow, noting Semir’s irritation at the topic.

“It sure seems to bother you a lot.” He said. Semir only spared him a momentary look and went back to staring at the computer screen.

“Are you sure they weren’t from Andre?” Tom tried with a smile.

Semir vehemently shook his head.

“Absolutely not.” He denied.  _ Andre doesn’t call me a pet.  _ He added in his mind.

“Alright, alright, forget I said anything.” Tom raised his hands in defeat, not interested in an argument this early in the morning.”How’s the prince charming doing anyway? You talked to him recently?”

“Not since he left, I think he has his hands full with the recruits.” Semir replied.

“Or vice versa.” Tom grinned.

Semir chuckled. “Yeah, that’s also a possibility.”

Soon after, their boss arrived and it was time to head out for a patrol.

The day went by without anything interesting happening and with the sun going down, Semir waved his partner a goodbye and headed home. On the way back, he figured he might as well call Andre, so as soon as he parked in front of the apartment building, he dialed his lover’s borrowed number.

As he looked for the right key for the door, he heard his lover’s voice.

“Fux” 

Semir smiled.

“Hello to you too, dear. I also miss you greatly.”

Andre laughed.

“Sorry Semir, forgot to add your number, so how’s my little bird doing on his own?” He asked.

“Alright, nothing major came up so far, so we’re just stuck with patrols and paperwork, I’ve actually just got home.” Semir replied as he opened the door to the apartment, shutting it behind him and throwing the keys in a basket on a nearby table.”What about you? How many recruits do you still have left over there?”

“All of them” Andre huffed at the implications. ”They’re all pretty decent kids, they’ll make good cops. I’ll probably head back on Sunday, I don’t think they’ll need me for much longer.”

“Oh? So we might have our desired vacation after all?” Semir asked hopefully.

“Here I thought you had all your desires reserved for me and you’re dreaming about a vacation instead. That pains me, babe.” Andre replied in mock hurt.

Semir rolled his eyes.

“We didn’t get to spend any quality time together before boss shipped you off to Kerpen, I’d just prefer to be out of the cell tower reach this time.” Semir noted with displeasure.

Andre sighed.

“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” 

The was a momentary pause between them, Semir figured they should end the call there, it was getting late. He glanced at the empty bedroom and flash of memories of all the nights he spent alone came rushing back.

“Alright, guess I’m gonna head off-” Andre started.

“I really miss you.” Semir cut him off, Andre went silent on the other line and Semir bit his lip. He didn’t want to appear clingy, but after everything that happened, it was difficult to keep his mouth shut in favour of his pride.

Semir could hear Andre sigh on the other line.

“Sorry.” Semir muttered.

“Semir…” Andre started slowly, Semir braced for the disappointed tone, he figured Andre wouldn’t feel comfortable with such genuine confessions, it was really going to be only a week, he was being awfully dramatic.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you at home right now, trust me.”

At Andre’s words, Semir pressed his back against a wall and smiled softly.

“Feeling’s mutual.” He responded quietly.

“Only five days to go, it’s going to fly by in no time. Goodnight, little bird.”

“Goodnight, Andre.”

The call ended and Semir placed the phone on a table beside him and sighed.

“Boy, you’re really in it over your head.” He said out loud. He loved Andre, there was no denying that, but he never figured he’d struggle so much not having him around for a couple of days after he spent a year living with the thought of him being dead. Andre sounded genuine when he said those words and it gave Semir some hope that maybe he wasn’t the only one struggling with the separation.

He looked for Andre’s phone later on, but much to his frustration, couldn’t find it. He even tried calling it, but couldn’t hear the ringing anywhere around the apartment nor the dial tone. The battery might have died by now, Semir cursed under his breath. Great, now they’ll find it who knows when and where.

That night his sleep was even more restless than the night before and it wasn’t long before Semir found himself paranoid enough that he actually got up and closed the bedroom door.

He wasn’t afraid of the dark, he never was. It just didn’t feel...right, lately. He constantly had the feeling that he could hear something and never was he sure whether it came from outside or inside. The apartment building was old, it’s been one of those Victorian structures reformed into modern apartments from the inside, but most of the structure remained the same, so sometimes they could hear the elevator move during the night, or door open and shut and Semir was used to it, he lived in that apartment for eight years and spent fair amount of those years in there alone.

He wasn’t sure what made every night there now so unnerving.

When he woke up in the morning, he felt more restless than anything and it frustrated him to no end. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he shuffled into the kitchen to grab his phone, which - at last, charged fully. Semir was about to tuck it away into his pocket when his eye caught the small missed call icon just as he closed the phone. 

“Damn, I didn’t hear anything, I hope it wasn’t Tom…” he muttered and pulled the phone out again. He clicked open the call menu.

_ Missed call from Andre. _

What?

Semir stared at the phone, utterly confused. He thought Andre lost it at home. Out of curiosity he dialed the number and pressed call.

_ This number is unavailable. _

Semir pressed the end call button, it was the same message as yesterday, meaning the phone was off. He checked when the missed call was made.

2am

He was long asleep by then.

Semir frowned, but then he heard his second alarm and knew he had to hurry, or he’d be competing Tom’s lateness to work.

\---

  
  


At the police station, things were moderately quiet. Nothing major has happened in a while and Semir’s assignments were mundane daily patrols of the highway. It’s been one of the reasons why Engelhardt decided it would be a good opportunity to send Andre to Kerpen to help with the training of new police recruits.

With a sigh, Semir grabbed the neatly stacked paperwork from Bonrath, his colleague raised an eyebrow and towered over the smaller officer expectantly. Semir looked up.

“What?” He questioned in annoyance.

Bonrath blinked and pursed his lips.

“Didn’t you forget something?” He asked.

Semir stared at him blankly, not following whatsoever.

“Thanks!” Bonrath groaned and shoved the paperwork against the smaller officer’s chest, nearly toppling him over.” Unbelievable, the things I have to put up with-” Bonrath grumbled as he stomped away.

“Thanks, Bonrath!” Semir called after him, the tall man just waved him off and rounded the corner, returning to his desk.

Semir looked at the paperwork he was given, eyes catching the words ‘incorrect identification’. He started walking towards his office as he opened the file in his hands and frowned deeply when he was met with a familiar face.

Semir skipped through the tedious details until one sentence in particular captured his interest.

“ _ The identification number you provided in your report is not in our existing database… _ ” he read out loud as he walked past his colleagues, but Semir was far too preoccupied in the document in his hands and merely nodded in acknowledgement. 

_ Provided information has not been falsified upon investigation, but merely incorrect, we require of you to correct the identification number and send back the correct form. _

Semir stared at the paperwork in confusion.

“Semir?”

At hearing Andrea’s voice he finally looked up, realizing he stopped right by her desk.

“Yes, what is it?” He closed the file.

The brunette secretary handed him a note, he took it and noticed a phone number.

“Some man called Elias Laufer has been looking for you, said it was important, so he told me to give you his number when you get back.” Andrea explained.

“Elias Laufer?” Semir queried.

Andrea shrugged.

“He didn’t mention any specifics, just that it’s urgent.”

Semir looked at the number with name scribbled above it and from the top of his head, couldn’t put it to anyone he met before.

“I see, thanks Andrea.” Semir said at last, giving the secretary a quick smile. He opened the door to his office and closed it behind him, he tossed the file on his desk and looked at the small note in his hand once more.

He couldn’t recall ever hearing the name, but regardless, he reached into his pocket for his phone and without giving it any more thought, dialed the number.

It rang once.

Twice.

“Hello?” Semir heard the male voice. Still unfamiliar.

“Greetings, my name is Semir Gerkhan, I’ve been told you’ve been looking for me?” He replied.

There was a momentary pause and then the voice spoke again with much more enthusiasm.

“Oh yes! I’m pleased to be hearing from you Mr.Gerkhan, my name is Elias Laufer, I’ve called your office yesterday, but they’ve told me you were away. Anyway, I was hoping you could help me with a rather serious issue.”

“Yes?” Semir said, walking over to the window, checking if Tom pulled in yet.

“Well, we live in the same neighbourhood you see,” Laufer continued, ”Forgive me if I’m wrong, but you own a silver BMW, right?”

“I do, why?” Semir confirmed, sitting down at his desk and reopening the file, flipping through the pages idly.

“I’m sorry if this sound rude, but do you have to drive it around the block with flashing lights every night? It’s just that it keeps waking up our children, you see and-”

Semir dropped the file.

“What? What are you talking about?” He asked incredulously.

“You..you don’t know? Your silver BMW drives around the block every night, with a blue flashing light on, you use those as police, don’t you?” Laufer continued on.

“Well, yes, but I can assure you I haven’t been driving my car around in the middle of the night.”

Laufer hesitated.

“Oh, I see.., I guess I must be mistaken-”

Semir stood up abruptly.

“No, hold on, how long has this been happening?” He pressed on.

“Three days my wife tells me, I haven’t been home much, I was on a business trip and only just returned and saw the lights yesterday, so I thought- don’t you live with another man? Isn’t it possible it was him?” Laufer offered.

“No, my partner has been away for five days and won’t be back until Sunday. I apologize for the disturbance, I’ll look into it.” Semir said, anxiety already bubbling up in his chest.

“Away?But we’ve seen someone in your apartment just moments ago, Mr.Gerkhan.”

The coldness that seized him in that moment could freeze over an entire ocean if it was possible.

He quickly ended the call and slammed his phone against the desk.

**What in the actual hell was going on?**

“Hey, Semir, are you alright?” Semir nearly fell off his chair when he heard Tom’s voice behind him. Tom quickly supported him before he fell back.”Whoa, careful, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Semir looked at his partner, completely at loss of what to say.

Thoughts raced in his mind. There’s no way Andre was home already, he would have told him. Couldn’t have been his mother either, she was back in Turkey.

_ Maybe they were looking at the wrong apartment? _

Tom frowned, his hold remaining on Semir’s shoulders.

“Okay, you’re definitely not alright, Semir what happened? You’re starting to worry me.” His partner pressed on.

Semir had to know, he had to know for sure. He abruptly stood up, pushing the startled Tom away.

“Sorry, I’ll..I just need to check on something, I’ll be right back.” He said quickly and before Tom managed to say anything, Semir was out of the door and practically running to his car, his heart beating in his chest like a drum.

As he stepped on the gas, he could see Tom running out of the building behind him and for a moment, Semir felt bad for not explaining himself, but if someone really was at his apartment, he wanted catch them himself.

On the way to his apartment, his phone rang nearly nonstop, Semir figured Tom was trying to reach him, but his determination kept his eyes firmly on the road ahead, he didn’t pick up.

Soon his car came to a screeching halt before the apartment building, Semir didn’t even bother to park properly, leaving the BMW haphazardly across the sidewalk and someone’s flower garden, he jumped out and ran up the multiple flights of stairs. He stopped before his apartment door, breathing hard. It was closed and as he fumbled to get the key in and turning it once and then twice, he realized it was in fact, locked.

He unlocked the door and carefully opened it, his hand already tugging his gun free out of his belt. Semir took several cautious steps inside the seemingly calm and quiet apartment. When he made it to the living room, his phone rang again and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He fumbled to get the phone out of his pocket, while his eyes still warily searched the place for anything remotely suspicious. He pulled out the phone and looked at the caller’s ID.

It wasn’t Tom like he thought.

That was Andre’s phone number. The missing phone to be exact.

Semir quickly pressed the accept button and brought the phone to his ear.

It was quiet on the other side for a moment and Semir was about to say something, when he heard a voice that most definitely wasn’t Andre’s.

_ ‘Hey there, pet. I like your place, really homely, I wouldn’t expect any less from you. I haven’t seen you on our highway for a while so I stopped by your workplace, I was worried about you and hey...would you believe my luck, found your home address! I borrowed this phone for a bit if you don’t mind, it was just laying around so I figured you don’t need it. Anyway, you’ve got a good taste in furniture, I’m sure you’ll like mine too. Can’t wait to bring you to my home, pet.”  _ The fondness behind those words sent icy shivers down Semir’s spine.

“ **Who the hell are you?!** ” Semir shouted into the phone.

The voice on the other line tutted.

_ “Your lover of course.” _ He answered matter-of-factly.  _ “I’ve got his phone, don’t I?” _

“You bastard-” Semir hissed.

_ “Don’t be like that, pet. He left you here all on your own, if I wanted, I already could have had my way with you by now, but I want to take it slow, I like you. I want you to like me too, so I left you a gift in the bedroom.” _

Semir looked up at the bedroom and took the several agonizing steps towards it, pushing the door open.

_ “Just want to show you how much I care for you.” _

The bed was completely covered in photos, from afar Semir could tell they were all dark shots.

_ “From the day I first saw you, I knew.” _

As Semir approached the bed, he realized those were all photos of him. At night, when he was asleep.

_ “See you soon, pet.” _

The phone fell on the ground beside him as Semir continued to stare at the dozens upon dozens of photographs of  _ him. _

He didn’t hear Tom calling out to him, nor did he hear him enter the apartment. It wasn’t until his partner grabbed his wrist gently, causing him to twist in the hold in startlement.

“Relax, Semir, it’s just me!” Tom quickly reassured him, seeing as Semir still clutched his gun his in his hand. Semir eyes darted from Tom to the photos on the bed and back to Tom, then he took several steps back and dropped down on a nearby chair, placing his head in his hands and releasing a shaky breath while Tom picked up one of the photos off the bed, looking at it in utter disbelief.

“What is all this? These are all-” Tom muttered.

“Of me, yeah.” Semir finished for him, letting out a humourless laugh.”I think someone’s stalking me.”


	4. Chapter 4

Tom looked around the apartment one more time just to be sure and closed the front door. Semir stood in the corridor behind him with his back to his partner and Tom looked at him in worry. They weren’t unfamiliar to this sort of thing, but this was the first time it regarded one of them on a personal level.

Walking over to Semir, Tom gently pushed the apartment keys in his hand, the turk idly took them from him, shoving the keys in his pocket and heading for the elevator in quick stride, Tom followed him.

There was an awkward silence hanging over them, Semir hasn’t said anything since they called the boss; or Tom did, Semir didn’t want to, but they both knew this had to be reported.

Once outside, Tom realized they both arrived in their individual cars and opened his mouth to ask whether Semir wanted to bring the BMW, but to his surprise, his partner completely ignored his beloved car and followed Tom to his Mercedes.

“We don’t need two cars if I’m staying with you.” Semir clarified, acknowledging the silent question on Tom’s face.

As they got in the car, Tom sent out a text to Andrea.

_ Can you look up the name from Semir’s traffic stop the other day? - T _

Then he tucked his phone away and looked at Semir. The turk was looking at his own phone, not pressing any buttons though.

“Are you going to tell Andre?” Tom queried.

Semir slowly shook his head and tucked the phone away.

“What do you mean ‘no’? He’s coming back at the end of the week, isn’t he? Wouldn’t it be better if he knew what was he coming back to?” Tom reasoned.

“If I tell him, the first thing he’ll do is drop everything and hightail it back.” Semir sighed.

“It might be better if he came back, at least he’d keep an eye on you.” Tom raised an eyebrow.

“I’d really rather not involve him in this, Tom. Who knows what’s that guy capable of?”

“That’s exactly why you should tell him. Andre might be in just as much danger as you are.” Tom said and started the car. 

\----

Anna Engelhardt rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. She hoped that things would remain quiet for at least one month, it’s been going so well up to this point, no major crashes, no fires, no incidents with her officers…

Right now, she had two of her best men sitting before her in the office and her hopes crushed into dust.

She picked up the file that Andrea brought her moments ago regarding Semir’s wrongly filled ticket and scanned through it.

“You’re certain this is the person who’s been stalking you?” She raised her eyes to Semir.

“I’m not sure, but this all started happening after that traffic stop.” Semir confirmed. “He was being uncomfortably flirtatious with me, it gave me the creeps.”

Engelhardt nodded.”I see, when did you notice that something was off?”

Semir thought about it for a moment, resting his elbow against the armrest and pressing a thumb against his temple.

“Two days later I suppose, that’s when I looked for Andre’s phone and couldn’t find it, we’ve been pretty sure he left it at home.”

“And you believe that’s when the man took it?” Engelhardt pushed on.

“Seems like it-” Semir began, but Tom cut him off.

“He’s been breaking into your place _ for three days _ ?!” He said, taken aback.

Semir ran a hand through his short hair. “I’ve got no idea how he did it. That door is not easy to break into and only keys we have are mine and Andre’s and we both carry them with us. Neighbour spotted this man only once, but he’s a really old guy and didn’t pay attention to it.”

“I’ll have the apartment monitored, hopefully we’ll catch him red-handed.” Engelhardt said with a sigh. “Do you have somewhere to stay for now?”

” He’ll stay at my place until Andre gets back.” Tom said.

“It might be for the best if I recall him.” Engelhardt offered, but Semir vehemently shook his head.

“He could be in more danger than me if he came back, it happened before and I don’t want to risk that.” He reasoned, the memory of Andre getting sniped on the highway, still too vivid in his memory years later.

“I can see if we can extend his stay, but you have to think of your own safety too, Semir. We have little to go on besides the ID from your traffic stop and that’s proven to be fruitless after Andrea’s digging. We don’t know what this man is capable of.” Engelhardt pushed the folder towards the small turk.

He picked it up and flipped it open.

“The name is correct, but address has expired and Mr.Henke is registered at Koln’s City Hall, additionally he has no prior criminal record, there’s really not much to go by, so our only chance is that we catch him at your apartment tonight.” She shrugged helplessly.

“If he’s stalking me, that won’t be easy. He probably knows I won’t go back there after his little gift.” Semir frowned.

Engelhardt spread her hands helplessly. “Unless there’s a genuine threat to your life, I can’t pursue any further precautions. Stalking cases are troublesome even with women, let alone men.”

“Do you think he wants to hurt you?” Tom asked, looking at his partner with concern.

“I don’t know, he kept mentioning that he can’t wait to bring me home, so-” Semir said, throwing the folder back on the table. “Whatever he’s planning, he knows my everyday schedule, from when I wake up, to when I go to sleep. He knows where I work, what car I drive, if he’s got Andre’s phone then he definitely knows about him too.”

“Does he know that Andre is one of our officers?” Engelhardt queried.

“Don’t think so.” Semir shook his head.” Unless he somehow found my record of Andre when he was my partner, I don’t see how he’d figure it out.”

“Let’s hope.” sighed Engelhardt.”I’ll have the security footage checked, we need to find out whether he’s been here.”

Semir stood up.

“I’ll talk to Andrea, see if she can find out anything about Henke’s old neighbourhood. Maybe people there knows where he hangs around.”

He gave Tom a quick pat on the shoulder and walked out.

Engelhardt lit up a cigarette and took a heavy drag out of it.”What a week…” She muttered.

Across from her, Tom frowned in thought.

“I find it hard to believe that he’d have no record if he got away with so much, I think he’s done this before.” He said.

Anna looked up at her colleague. “The only way that would be possible is if there was nobody to report him after the fact.” She exhaled the smoke, lips setting in thin line.

“He silenced his victim.”

\--------

It was later that afternoon that Tom found himself parked in front of Semir’s apartment building yet again, sitting on the driver’s side, the taller man rested his arm against the window, watching Semir talking to the patrol stationed in their car ahead.

Before heading to Tom’s apartment, they returned to the location to pick up clothes and toiletries for the temporary leave, Tom offered to go up with his partner, but Semir waved him off with reassurement that he’d be in and out in a moment.

Tom watched Semir pat the hood of the patrol’s car and walk inside the apartment building. He looked at the his watch reading 6:15PM and drummed his fingers against the steering wheel while he waited. His eyes wandered randomly over the surroundings, stopping at the various parked cars and to pass the time, he mentally named every brand and model he could remember.

Hyundai Accent. Citroen Saxo. Opel Vectra. Skoda Octavia.

Some time passed before he reached as far as he could see. He checked his watch again.

6:38PM

He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel again and sighed. His eyes searched his surroundings, looking for anything remotely interesting, until his attention caught a passing BMW model 3, the silver car immediately caused Tom to perk up, but as he saw a completely different driver behind the wheel, he relaxed again and smiled to himself.

Semir wasn’t the only one who owned that car, of course.

After more time passed, Tom looked at his watch again.

6:50PM

He frowned and leaned forward to look up to get a view on Semir’s apartment windows, seeing the lights on.

“How much stuff is he packing?” Tom muttered to himself and with impatience getting the best of him, he got out of the car and locked it. He threw a quick wave to the patrol watching him and jogged inside the apartment building.

After the quick ride of the elevator to the desired floor, Tom stopped in front of Semir’s apartment door and knocked.

And waited.

After ten seconds of nothing, he knocked again, much harder, feeling suddenly very concerned. He grabbed his phone out of the pocket and quickly dialed Semir’s number, pacing in front of the door anxiously as it rang.

“Come on, pick up, pick it up goddamn it.” He begged urgently, but froze when he realized that there was no sound coming from the apartment. Slowly he lowered the phone from his ear while it continued dialing and listened on, hearing absolutely nothing from the other side of the door.

Without any hesitation, he kicked the door in, surprising himself when it pretty much shattered under the force. He heard several neighbours opening their door, looking out in alarm as he rushed inside the apartment with his gun drawn, but the grim feeling that Semir wasn’t in there made all seem pointless.

At first glance, there was nothing disturbed inside, Tom ran through each room and after checking everywhere, it was obvious Semir likely never made it in there. Everything was the same way they left it earlier that day, including the photographs on the bed still laying there as a creepy reminder of the stalker.

He did see the BMW earlier, but Semir would hardly just leave on his own without saying a word to him.

Tom’s eyes widened in realization.

“ **Fuck!** I’m so stupid!” He cursed loudly and pulled out his phone again, dialing another number.

“It’s Kranich, I need you to put up a search for BMW 330i, registration number NE-DR 8231. Yes, I know that’s one of our cars, do you think I’m stupid?!” He ran out of the apartment, already surrounded by concerned neighbours.

Before they thought he was a burglar, he pulled out his badge.

“Highway police, does this building have another exit besides the front door?!” He urged, still holding the phone to his ear.

One of the middle-aged men nodded. “There’s door to the backyard on the ground floor, but it’s enclosed area, you’d need a key to get on the street.”

Tom quickly thanked the man and ran to the staircase, not patient enough to wait for the elevator. The neighbours looked after him in confusion.

With the dispatch informed, Tom met the patrol officers at the ground floor, both men looking at him with concern.

“What happened?” One asked.

Tom tucked away his gun and phone.” The guy somehow slipped past us, Semir’s missing.” He explained quickly and looked for the back door until he spotted it wide open. 

With another frustrated curse, he looked at the two officers.

“The bastard outsmarted us.”

\------

Instead of returning home, Tom rushed back to the police station and to his surprise it was buzzing with life and Andrea ran up to him anxiously.

“We pinged Semir’s phone before it entered highway, but then it went dead, we don’t know where he is.” She said worriedly.

Tom nodded and looked towards the dispatchers sitting at their desk.”Did anyone find the BMW yet?!” He called out.

“We informed every patrol car currently in the field, but so far nothing.” The dispatcher reported.

Engelhardt walked out of her office, heading straight to Tom.

“How did this happen? I thought you were there together?” She demanded. Tom scratched the back of his neck.

“He wanted to grab his things by himself, I thought he’d be fine with me and the other guys outside.” He said with guilt.” Henke must have slipped out through the back door and escaped using Semir’s car.”

“Goddamn it, I can’t believe this. Three officers at the scene and Gerkhan still gets kidnapped.” Engelhardt swore. “The only thing playing in our favour is that Henke took the BMW, the model is still considerably new and not as common, it should be possible to track it down.”

“I should have gone with him to the apartment, this didn’t have to happen.” Tom shook his head.

“None of us expected Henke to make such a bold move, Tom. That man might be far more dangerous than we anticipated.“ Engelhardt placed her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s hope no harm comes to Semir while we look for them.”

“What about Andre?” Tom realized. 

“I don’t want to concern him yet, right now it’s for the best to focus on finding any information on Henke’s whereabouts, where he currently lives, any family members who could offer us any information and so on.” Engelhardt insisted. “He’s not a ghost, we have to find him, eventually.”

Tom nodded.

“I’ll get on it.”

\---------

It was much later that night when Andre’s sleep was interrupted with his phone ringing. The detective turned his head sleepily to the glowing screen illuminating in the darkness. Irritated, he reached for it, blinking rapidly at the sudden brightness before his eyes as he looked for the caller ID.

When he saw Semir’s name flashing across the screen, his irritation turned to confusion. He searched for the glowing clock in the dark.

1:43AM

“What does he want at this hour?” He murmured to himself, but before he could pick it up, the call ended.

Andre rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up, dialling the number back.

It rang once. Twice. Thrice. Then he heard the distinctive sound of line connecting.

“Semir?” He asked after a moment, but was met with silence and the call dropped.

Odd. Maybe his lover just called him accidentally, but looking at the call history, Andre was taken aback at the seven missed calls prior to this one.

So, he dialed the number again. This time, it connected immediately, but again, nobody on the other line.

“Semir, you there?” He tried again. He listened closely and heard a very faint rustle in the background like a white noise. Then three quiet taps against something hollow and a hitch of breath before the call dropped.

Andre stared at the phone in disbelief and quickly tried to call again, but couldn’t get through, Semir’s phone must have been turned off. Without another thought Andre dialed Tom’s number.

After an agonizingly long moment while Andre’s worry escalated, he heard a very grumpy and exhausted voice on the other line.

“What kind of sadist-”

“Is Semir with you, have you two gone drinking?” Andre demanded, cutting him off.

There was a brief pause on the other side and Andre heard Tom pushing himself up. 

“What happened?” His friend asked slowly.

Andre frowned.

“Semir called me eight times in the past three hours and now I can’t reach him anymore. Can you check on him?” He pressed on.

“Semir called you?!” Tom asked in astonishment. “Did you hear anything at all when you picked it up?” Now that was something he didn't want to hear and Andre felt his heart sink with dread.

“Tom, did something happen to Semir.” He demanded with a warning.

The hesitant silence didn’t reassure him.

“...He went missing six hours ago, Andre.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And it is done, I hope you enjoyed the story! :D

Tom slept at the office overnight, his dedication to find his partner stronger than the comfort of his bed and so when his eyes opened to wakelfuness in the paleness of sunrise, his body ached all over from the uncomfortable chair. 

He pushed himself up with daze and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, walking over to the window and opening the blinds to let more natural light in. Turning back, his eyes fell on the new folder on his table that wasn’t there last night, he stared at it curiously before picking it up and opening it.

Various names and addresses and while for a brief moment Tom wasn’t sure what this was about, it clicked rather fast, they were Henke’s family members. So Andrea managed to find them last night, he smiled, he’d have to thank her later.

Turning on his computer back to life from its sleep mode, Tom sat back down at the desk, placing the folder where he could see it for later and logged in, his desktop opening at the address where Henke formerly lived. He tried to find any information available on the tennants, but no luck there, unfortunately the building hasn’t been in use for several years and Henke was one of the last few to be evicted before it was demolished.

It wasn’t a good news, but when Tom looked at the map, the location caught his attention. Koln had many mostly deserted districts and the surrounding area of Henke’s last address was already familiar to Tom and essentially any cop in the city.

The area has been one of those forces would investigate first when searching for local criminals, the vast length of abandoned buildings made it an easy hiding spot. That didn’t necessarily mean Tom was certain Henke would be hiding there, but it meant he was familiar enough with the area to find the place suitable for cover. Whether it was suitable for hiding a kidnapped victim and his car, that was another story.

Tom clicked on the map and dragged the mouse along, overlooking the width of the area and after a moment, reconsidered his thoughts. Semir’s car was a new model, like Engelhardt said, it wouldn’t be easy to hide it, Tom continued to stare at the map. Henke was taking a huge risk if he kept it, it would be easy to track him down.

But up to this point, Henke has been anything but predictable, Tom frowned and rested his hand under his chin. If they’ve been right and he’s done this before, it could turn out much more difficult than he’d anticipated.

Tom was snapped out of his thought when he heard a car pulling up, he glanced at the clock, it was still too early for any of their colleagues to come to work. He stood up and once he saw a Mercedes parked beside his, he muttered a curse.

Not long after he heard the door open and swift footsteps, with a sigh he opened the door to the office and was met with the disheveled sight of his colleague. Andre’s eyes immediately landed on him as the only living thing in the station and marched towards him.

He looked comical and if it weren’t for the weight of the situation, Tom would probably laugh at the way Andre seemingly threw on anything available at hand in the heat of the moment, his shirt was buttoned up only halfway and in the wrong holes, he didn’t even bother putting on a jacket despite the weather being chilly in the morning, bed hair sticking in all directions and he still had the morning stubble, it was obvious he drove back immediately after Tom announced the bad news.

“What the fuck happened, Tom? Why didn’t Engelhardt recall me the moment this started happening?!” The man in question snarled once he came to a stop before his colleague. Tom raised his hands to his chest level defensively.

“Calm down, we knew nothing about the situation until yesterday.” He argued. 

“You said it’s been happening for a week! Why hasn’t Semir said anything?!” Andre snapped, running his hand through his hair as he paced angrily around the office while Tom stalked over to his seat and sat down heavily.

“He didn’t tell anyone anything until I followed him after he stormed off to his apartment out of sudden, that’s when it probably really sunk in.” He said and noticed Andre’s eyes were fixed on the evidence bag laying on the table.

“What is that?” The detective asked, picking up the bag, opening it slowly and pulling out the contents.

Tom watched his expression shift as he held the various photographs between his fingers, flipping through them one by one.

“Henke left these on the bed for Semir.” 

Andre’s eyes snapped to meet his and Tom saw the barely restrained fury within that look. Andre tossed the photographs on the table with disgust and turned his back to Tom. The older officer wanted to ask him if he was alright, but his words died on his tongue when Andre’s fist connected with a nearby cupboard, the wooden structure splintering to multiple pieces under the force. When Andre pulled his hand back it was red and bruised, but nothing compared to the mental anguish the poor man must have been fighting with inside.

Andre straightened up and clenched his bruised fist.

“You said he took Semir’s car as well.” He said after a moment, his voice evening out. “He’s not gonna get far with that.”

“Yeah, we’ve already put up a search for it, there’s probably couple hundreds of the same BMW 3 driving around, but if he hasn’t changed the registration, it should narrow it down.” Tom agreed.

“What I want to know, is how the hell did he manage all of this-” Andre waved his hand vaguely in the air, “-and none of the trained cops that were there could stop him from taking Semir, who is more than capable of self defense and still got kidnapped with virtually no struggle because nobody had a clue that he was missing until nearly an hour later?”

Tom’s eyes fell on Henke’s file, looking at the man’s photograph and remembering the face he’d seen as the BMW passed by him yesterday. The level of confidence that man possessed was unbelievable.

“He knew exactly what he was doing.” Tom said. “He’s done this before, we can only speculate where the previous victims ended up.” The thought sent a shiver down his spine at the possibilities. “We can search through the recently missing person cases and see if there’s maybe a pattern, if Henke’s done this before, then he very likely has a type he looks for and with the way he’s been obsessing over Semir, it looks like he found exactly what he wanted.”

Andre’s expression hardened, his eyes fell on the photographs.

“If he hurts Semir, I’ll kill him.”

\----

  
  
  


Cold air hit his skin as soon Semir awoken, opening his eyes to blurry vision and restraining pain in his wrists and ankles. He blinked slowly, tongue thick in his mouth from whatever he was drugged with, his surroundings began to clear around him and the dampness and stale smell of an old rotting building made it apparent he wasn’t at his apartment where he initially went to.

Shifting on the surface he was resting against, which turned out to be the ground, he found himself completely bound, his arms and legs already growing sore from the uncomfortable position.

Realization was replaced by fear when he saw the person he dreaded to see, sitting in a damaged armchair across from him, watching him with a small smile on his lips. He was much bigger than Semir remembered. 

“Glad to see you’re awake, pet.” Henke’s dark eyes bore into his and Semir turned away with unease. “I’m sorry for the setup, but I didn’t have much time to prepare our bedroom with your colleagues joining the picture so quickly.” Henke clasped his hands and stood up, his shoes coming into Semir’s view.

The mention of bedroom made his blood run cold and his lips set in thin line as he kept his mouth shut.

He flinched when Henke’s hand caressed his cheek.

“Did you like my flowers? I’ve tried to do this as a gentleman, not my strongest forte, but when I laid my eyes on you…” Henke sighed dreamily. “I knew I’d do anything to have you, pet.”

The hand moved from Semir’s cheek to his throat, the rough fingers making Semir feel like he was dragging knives down his throat instead.  _ Stop touching me _ , he begged in his mind.

Henke watched him curiously, not missing the tension in his body, he squeezed his arm in something Semir assumed was meant to be comfort.

“You don’t have to be afraid, I don’t want to hurt you, pet.” Henke promised quietly, running his hand up and down Semir’s arm, when the turk flinched away from the touch, Henke looked almost sad. “Do you think I’d go through all this effort to do you harm? I could have killed you the first time I stepped into your apartment, you were there, asleep. I knew I’ve fallen for you in that moment.” Henke explained and moved away from Semir walking somewhere behind him and returning with a blanket. Semir watched him as he bundled up the material and gingerly placed it under his head. 

“I’ve never had luck with love, you know?” Henke continued after he ensured his captive’s comfort was set and returned to his armchair.”I could never find the right woman or man that would feel right, that would make me look at them and think ‘I want nothing more than to worship that body with my entire being.’ I’ve had few, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes that spark would be there and I’d bring them home and then….” Henke exhaled sadly.”They didn’t feel right under my hands, like touching a petal and expecting smoothness and that beautiful lingering scent within it, but instead feeling it wither and rot as I squeezed and I squeezed. They simply couldn’t give me what I wanted, but you-”

Henke looked at him with desire.

“You’ve got fire to you. Exotic, beautiful bright flame.” He stared him up and down like a prey and Semir swallowed thickly, his body unwillingly shivering with anxiety. “I’m going to keep that flame burning just for me. You’ll see.” 

Henke stood up and turned towards the door, glancing at Semir one last time.

“I promised myself not to seal that promise until your lover is out of the way, I’m not a complete animal. Rest while I’m gone, we’ll have a long night ahead of us once I return, pet.” He promised, giving one lewd look to the bound body. “Don’t even think about escaping, I’d hate to punish you before I can have you.” He warned and closed the door behind him, enveloping Semir in a complete darkness.

As soon as Semir heard the steps fade away, he struggled against the binds and cursed quietly when they only tightened further against his abused skin. He rolled to his front, lifting himself to his knees and shuffled towards the direction of the door, using the armchair beside it to pull himself to his feet to relief his burning knees.

Awkwardly, with his hands bound behind him, Semir managed to turn the handle and with a loud creak, the door opened. Semir froze briefly, listening on and when he heard the start of an engine outside and car driving away, he pushed the door open all the way, taking in the sight of the house he was actually in right now.

Very old, rundown building that felt somehow familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. With difficulty he hobbled along the wall, trying not to fall on his face under the restraints, until he reached a rotten staircase and holding the railing tightly, hearing it creak obscenely underneath his touch, he prayed it wouldn’t give out under his weight while he moved down step by step.

It felt like an eternity when he finally found himself at the bottom and in the dim light coming through the barred windows; he searched for a way out.

He was sure Henke wouldn’t be back for a while; he didn’t know where Andre was or what he looked like, so Semir was sure his lover would be safe.

\------

While Andre and Tom worked on the available evidence of their kidnapping suspect, the station slowly build up with life as more officers came in. Engelhardt was shocked to see Andre there, but despite her warning of his own safety being possibly at risk, it was apparent that her detective wouldn’t hide away no matter how much she threatened to discharge him.

“The sick fuck has been drooling over Semir from practically day one, I’m not going to hide and wait until he hurts him, we have to find them.” Andre pressed on and Anna knew it would be impossible to stop him at that point.

“What do we have so far?” Engelhardt sighed, giving up and Andre smiled gratefully.

“Henke’s nephew mentioned his uncle had a cottage outside the city.” He offered.

Engelhardt raised her eyes with intrigue.”Really?”

“Yes, we might be able to find it if we go through estate’s purchased around the holiday resorts areas in the proximity of the city.” Tom added, handing her a photograph in front of a wooden house surrounded by trees, Henke standing in front with what she could only presume was his nephew.”His nephew said Henke spent more time at the cottage than his apartment, one of the reasons he got evicted. He wasn’t paying the rent.”

Engelhardt looked at the background of the photograph, noting the deep woods behind it.

“It looks like a plausible area to hide a kidnapped victim and a car.” She said.

“It’s also an ideal place to get rid of a body without leaving any trace.” Tom added and Andre shot him a warning look. “I’m not trying to think of the worst, but it would explain why Henke didn’t have any prior criminal record, if he brought all of his previous victims to the cottage. The area is remote enough for nobody to hear anything suspicious, drowning out any screams that could draw attention to it. His own killing ground.” Tom finished with a frown.”If he wasn’t a suspect of any crime, who’d even think about investigating that area?”

Anna nodded and tapped on the photograph.”Doesn’t his nephew know where the cottage is?”

“I asked, he’s only been there once and that was years ago, only thing he could give us is that they passed an old abandoned mansion, the one we occasionally check for junkies. But that’s a wide range to investigate when he couldn’t say how far past it they went.” Tom sighed.

“It’s a start, are you going to head over there?” Engelhardt asked.

Tom looked at Andre questioningly.

“Let’s go.” The detective said finally and headed to the door. Tom following him, before he could leave though, Andrea called out after him.

“Tom wait, before you go, here.” She thrust a paper in his hand. He turned it around in his hand and saw it was a map. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What is that?” He asked.

“Satellite picture of the area around Roth, where the mansion is, see those red crosses?” She tapped on the map.”Those are all buildings that are in the area. One of them should be your cottage.” She smiled triumphantly.

Tom blinked.

“What?” She asked in puzzlement.

Tom grinned and kissed her on the cheek.

“You are a godsend Andrea.”

She grinned proudly.

\----

Andre waited impatiently by the Mercedes, throwing a look at the door and checking his watch constantly, when he suddenly noticed a familiar car parked across the road of the station. Andre slowly turned towards the BMW 3, the car still too far for him to be able to read its registration number. He made several cautious steps, glancing at the station’s door one more time and when Tom still didn’t show up, Andre began to walk slowly towards the car, staring at it intently, trying to see the driver. He noticed the car began to move as well then, creeping at slow pace in his direction. Andre frowned and reached for his gun, only to be blinded when the car’s headlights came on and there was a sudden screech of tires as the car picked up on speed. He narrowly jumped out of the way, blinking away the flashing spots before his eyes as the BMW made a violent turn and once again, sped towards him at full speed. Andre shot blindly in front of him as the headlights turned on again and flashed on and off making it near impossible for him to presume the distance between them. He made to jump out of the way again, but the impact hit him so suddenly and violently he could only let out a startled yell and his world enveloped in pain and the sound of crushed glass as it connected with his body.

The car stopped shortly after and Andre saw a blurry vision of a man hovering over him, there was a sudden bright light and the sound of a camera snapping. Andre was too dazed to move.

“Now that you’re out of the way, I can claim him properly.” The desire behind those words, caused a sickening lurch in Andre’s stomach, but before he could muster any sort of response, there was a screeching of tires once again as the car sped off, leaving him bleeding on the ground.

\------

Semir tried to turn the front door handle with his elbow, but the door wouldn’t budge much to his frustration. He turned around to look for another way out, his ankle twisting painfully in the restraints causing him to yelp and fall on his back, the hard floor knocking the wind out of him. He rolled to his side and with a wince pulled his legs up so he could drag his bound arms to the front of his body, the flesh of his wrists already bloodied with strain he kept putting on the binds in effort to free himself.

He managed to drag himself to his knees and looked around to find something sharp to remove the restraints with, until at last his eyes landed on a sharp piece of metal laying amongst the debris on the floor. He grabbed the jagged piece and dragged it along the binding on his feet, the process difficult when each motion sent a shot of pain through his bruised wrists, but at last, the binds came off with a snap and Semir’s feet were free at last.

He tossed the metal aside and got to his feet, glad to finally stand up properly. He looked around, trying to take in where he actually was and couldn’t help himself but find the place more and more familiar the more he could see, until he walked into a bedroom with a large cloth covered frame and he knew.

He reached for the cloth with his bound hands and in one swift motion pulled it down to be met with his own reflection. Very much still himself, just dirtier than usual from laying on the filthy ground for who knows how long.

But he knew exactly where he was now.

“The abandoned mansion…” he muttered out loud, looking around the room.

Henke adjusted it to fit as his prison, all windows that were originally broken and bare were barred up shut and the front door that no longer even had a handle, now locked shut and now matter how hard he tried to kick it open, it opened inside and there was no amount of strength that could force it down from that side.

It felt like forever while Semir continued to break his way out, trying to pry open the blocked windows, with his now freed hands, running through various rooms, looking for any little opening and it was fruitless. He cursed loudly and kicked at a wall underneath the stairs, shouting in surprise when his leg went through it. Semir stared at the newly made hole, and pulled his leg out, feeling a gust of wind coming from inside.

Without hesitation, he grabbed a nearby rusted candlestick and slammed it against the rotten wood until it the hole was large enough for him to fit through. He poked his head in, seeing the complete darkness within, but felt coldness coming from underneath and as he reached in with his hand, felt steps leading somewhere underground.

It was a basement then.

He climbed in through the hole, careful not to fall down the stairs as his feet moved around searching for the steps. When he jumped all the way over, he carefully walked down, feeling the draft much stronger now than before. It was terrifyingly dark down there, but taking several careful steps with his hands outstretched to feel for any obstacles, bore fruit when he finally saw a string of light ahead, coming from somewhere above. As he grew nearer, he saw it was an outside entrance to the basement and prayed that it wasn’t sealed.

On his way towards the steps, he tripped over something and stumbled in the dark, clattering sound echoing through the dark space around him. Semir froze and slowly knelt to feel what did he just stumble over, the sound leaving him uneasy.

His finger brushed over a smooth, cold and hard surface, bulging on each end and with a restrained swallow, Semir recognized a thigh bone. Human thigh bone.

He quickly got to his feet, wiping his hands on his jeans and with a shake of his head, resumed his climb towards freedom.

When his hands touched the wooden opening, he said a quiet prayer and pushed against the trap door.

He nearly cried in relief when he was blinded by bright daylights and the musky air was replaced by fresh scent of a forest, being the city man that he was, there was nothing more pleasant than the smell of a fresh timber after his lungs spent the past several hours filling up with decades old dust of a ruin.

However, he wasn’t going to enjoy his freedom for long.

As soon as he crawled out of the basement, a hand grabbed him painfully by the nape of his neck and squeezed so hard it made his knees buckle, he yelled and reached blindly for the hand, but couldn’t as he was dragged forcibly along the forested floor, his bare feet poked by small branches and fallen pine cones.

“What did I tell you about trying to escape, pet?Just as I’ve returned with such a good news, bad boy.” Henke tutted and halted Semir’s attempts at fighting back when he pressed a handgun to his lower back.

“Be a darling and use your cute little feet to walk to the front, would you? I’ve got something to show you.” Henke nudged him forward. Semir glared daggers at his captor, so sick of the degrading tone with this guy, he wanted nothing more but to grab that gun and beat him over the head with it already.

Semir’s anger died quickly however, when Henke raised a photograph in front of his face.

“I figured I’d show you this first before you see what lead to it.” Henke said with a smile and Semir completely froze in place when he recognized his lover on the photograph.

Laying in a large puddle of blood with his eyes wide open and definitely not looking alive. Semir’s hand unconsciously moved to touch the photograph and Henke let him take him, Semir held in his trembling grasp and slowly raised his hand to cover his mouth as a whimper found its way out, his eyes blurring, making it suddenly difficult to see.

“It was quick.” Henke said neutrally, observing the way his captive’s shoulders shook.

The grizzly photograph crumpled in the smaller man’s hold as he let out a sob.

“Andre…” 

Henke wasn’t interested in his grief, he pressed the gun into his back and forced him to start moving again.

Semir was already rendered speechless when at last, his beloved BMW came into view and this time no matter how hard the gun pressed into his back, he wouldn’t move. His wide eyes were fixed on the large dent in the hood of the car and the broken windshield covered in blood. Semir’s hands shot up to his mouth in complete shock.

“Like I said, it was quick.” Henke repeated and frowned when Semir fell to his knees, overwhelmed by grief.

“Andre, no, no, no….” The small man babbled, tears freely rolling down his face while he couldn’t tear his eyes off the bloody carnage left on his car. Andre’s blood on his car.

The man he loved with all of his heart, the man he already grieved once and it was the most painful time of his life, the man who was supposed to be out of the town and safe and alive and-

The wail of pure heartbreak that left his throat that moment as he turned and launched himself at his captor echoed through the forest like a terrifying warning and shots rang out as the fight for life and death began.

The absolute fury behind Semir’s sudden punches must have taken Henke by surprise, he dropped his gun and raised his arms to defend his face as Semir hit him over and over with everything he had until Henke kicked him off of him and crawled for the dropped gun, Semir however quickly recovered and grabbed the gun before Henke could, twisting it around in his hand and beating his captor with the butt of the gun with as much force as he could muster, Henke screamed when there was a sickening crunch as one of the blows connected with his wrist, breaking the bone clean.

Henke kicked out at Semir, his boot connecting with the smaller man’s stomach and Semir fell back with a choked gasp as he felt his ribs crack under the pressure. However, adrenaline proved to be much stronger than the agony of losing his breath and in split second Semir was back up and the bloodied end of the gun once again, connected with Henke’s face as his captor tried to grab for him. Henke howled in pain and slapped his hands over his now profusely bleeding broken nose.

Semir took the opportunity for one final blow, his hand slamming the gun with all of his strength against the man’s scalp that he felt something tear underneath and Henke’s scream of pain was abruptly cut off and the man fell limply to the ground like a ragdoll, leaving Semir kneeling above him, breathing heavily and clutching the bloody gun with a shaking hand.

Semir saw blood pool around Henke’s body obscenely fast and he stumbled back before it could reach his knees and touch his bare feet. He dropped the gun to the ground, staring at the bruises it left on his hands from how forcefully he delivered each blow. Wiping the tears off his face, Semir heaved himself to his feet, his eyes glued on the bleeding bloody before him. He pushed Henke with his foot, watching as the big man’s body only rolled from side to side at the motion and went still again.

With how rapidly the blood was pooling around him, Semir was almost certain that Henke was dead, he couldn’t bring himself to check, his eyes now once more drawn to the damaged car. He walked around Henke and reached down for his pockets, rummaging through them until he felt his car keys and took them. He held them between his hands like a treasure and slowly approached his car.

His finger brushed over the dent and almost immediately his vision went blurry again and he pulled his hand back as if the touch burned it.

It was clear to him that he couldn’t get in that car no matter how much his life depended on it, it cost it Andre’s life and Semir found himself placing the keys on the hood of the car and stepping away from it.

_ “I’m so sorry, Andre.”  _ He sobbed quietly and instead turned to walk down the forested path, too numb to feel the uneven rough ground pressing in the soles of his feet. The forest swallowed up the sudden silence like a casket closing its lid over the dead man within.

  
  


\-------

_ Earlier at the police station _

Everybody’s attention snapped towards the sound of screeching tires followed by a loud crash and Tom bolted for the door, his colleagues following him close behind.

Just as he shoved his way through the door, Tom looked around the parking lot and froze when he saw the stopped BMW in the distance with the door open, a man standing beside it and over someone on the ground. The man’s attention snapped to them and he quickly returned to the BMW, just as Tom began to run towards him, and sped off. 

“Follow that car!” Tom shouted at his colleagues still by the door. Several officers jumped in their cars, while Tom’s eyes fell to the figure on the ground, realizing just who this was.

“Shit, Andre…” His eyes widened in shock, he quickly knelt by the now heavily bleeding detective, pressing his fingers against the man’s throat just as Andre groaned in pain and started moving. Tom held him down. “Don’t move, Andre, you’re bleeding, bad.”

Andre pushed his hands away, spitting out blood.

“Fucker, go after him.” the injured detective hissed, wiping blood out of his eyes as it dripped down his face. Tom waved at the approaching colleagues. 

“We need an ambulance!” He shouted.

“I’m fine, we have to follow the car.” Andre insisted, pulling himself to his knees despite Tom’s attempts to stop him, he stumbled to his feet, nearly falling over in the process had it not been for Tom’s supportive arms quickly steadying him.

“Andre, don’t be stupid, you need a hospital, you’ve just been hit by a goddamn car.” Tom shouted at the stubborn man, but Andre’s eyes were fixed to the direction the BMW sped off to. Tom watched in disbelief as Andre lifted his definitely broken hand to his face and grimaced.

“You gotta drive I guess.” He said with a hiss of pain.

Tom stared at him with open mouth.

“Are you not listening to me you moron?! You’re bleeding all over the place, you can’t chase anyone!” 

Andre rewarded him with an angry glare. 

“The sick fuck wants to rape Semir, I’m not going to a hospital. Not when Semir’s in danger.” He growled.

“We won’t let him hurt Semir.” Tom said definitively. “But that doesn’t mean you have to drop dead in the process.”

Andre shook his head vehemently.

“I have to go with you.” He insisted and already began to move towards the car parked not far away. “Don’t bother trying to stop me Kranich, I still have three functioning limbs to beat your ass and drive there myself.”

Tom frowned, but followed the injured man, there was no point in arguing.

\---------------

  
  


They drove in the direction the pursuing officers were reporting as they went, Andre raised the radio’s volume when one of the officers started shouting.

_ Cobra 7, the driver just drove up one of the embankments, we lost contact. _

Tom and Andre exchanged a look and Andre harshly picked up the radio.

“What the hell do you mean you lost contact, follow it up the embankment!” He shouted.

_ We tried, we’re stuck, but the driver is heading further into the woods. _

Andre hissed a curse and slammed his fist against the window. Tom was not giving up just yet however and grabbed the radio out of Andre’s hand.

“Which kilometer are you currently on, cobra 7?” He demanded and Andre looked at him with silent question.

_ Around eleventh last time we checked, another team is trying to drive around the embankment now. _

Tom hanged the receiver and turned the car off the direction they were going.

“What are you doing?” Andre asked him, watching as they exited the highway and sped down one of the side roads instead. Tom searched his pocket and pulled out the map Andrea gave him, handing it to Andre.

“The mansion is on the eleventh kilometer, that’s where his cottage is.” He explained and glanced at the map in Andre’s hand, pointing somewhere in the right corner. “We’re approaching it from around here, the highway is somewhere below there.” He pointed at the bottom of the map.

Andre placed it on his lap, his broken hand laying at his side uselessly. He frowned in thought and dragged his finger along the path where approximately the team lost the BMW.

“If he’s coming from the highway, he’s going to connect to the road here.” Andre tapped on a thin line appearing near the bottom. “That path is pretty direct, he’d have to cross way beyond that building to turn to any of those highlighted areas, I don’t think he’s heading to the cottage, I think he’s heading to the mansion.”

“I don’t know, we’ve been there a week ago with Semir and nothing was there, if Henke lived in the area, wouldn’t he know that we check on it regularly?” Tom said doubtfully.

“Yeah, you’ve already been there, that’s the point!” Andre said with frustration. “Who would consider that it would be a good idea to hide a kidnapped victim in a place that’s frequented by cops? Not the junkies avoiding it because of the cops and not the cops, Tom. What about the guy who lives there and isn’t afraid of the cops?”

“Henke…” Tom finished with realization. “Alright, despite you having an obvious concussion-”

“I don’t have a concussion.”

“-you make a good point, so let’s head there first, if nothing, we might come across the cottage along the way.”

When Andre only hummed in response, Tom glanced at him and saw the worried look on his face.

He turned back to the road and saw the beginning of the woods. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit he was worried about Semir too. If what Andre said at the parking lot was true, then they couldn’t afford losing Henke’s trail now.

\----

Upon first sight, nothing struck them as odd, but once the trees cleared out of the view, Tom saw the freshly barred windows all over the mansion.

He stopped some distance away from the building and got out of the car, reloading his gun. Andre struggled for a moment with his broken wrist, but pulled himself out of the car with a grunt.

They crept closer towards the building, noting the eerie silence, they exchanged a worried look and moved to the front door, it was already slightly ajar, so Andre pushed it open all the way, his gun clutched tightly in his good hand as he entered into the darkened building. They searched each room until Tom came upon the bedroom on the first floor and saw the bunched up blanket on the ground, looking far too new to be there, near it were discarded shoes and socks and over the armchair resting near the door was a folded jacket. Tom picked it up and immediately recognized it as Semir’s.

“Andre!” He called out to his colleague, who came running up quickly. Tom showed him the jacket, Andre took it from him his expression hardening when he held the familiar material.

Tom walked into the room and looked around while Andre’s eyes fell to the blanket on the ground and his hold on the jacket tightened. Tom looked up at his colleague, seeing where his eyes bore into the white cloth on the floor and bent down to pick it up, tossing it on the bed.

“It’s clean.” He said and Andre turned to stare at him and Tom felt a little awkwardness at his own words and cleared his throat. “I don’t think Henke’s done anything to him.”

Yet.

The words hung in his throat, but he swallowed before the doubtful thought escaped.

There was a sudden noise coming from somewhere below, both men exchanged a look and bolted out of the room.

They came to a stop beneath the stairs, looking around, Andre cursing the darkness lowly, making their search that much more difficult. Then Andre tripped over something and took a step back, his hand hitting nothingness when he moved to push against the wall that should have been there. He turned around and saw a hole in the wall, fresh scrapes around it as evidence of it being done recently.

Andre kicked at the item he tripped over and the candlestick rolled into the view, but something else caught Tom’s attention and he bent down to pick it up and held it between his fingers.

“Zip tie.” He declared.

Andre turned towards the hole in the wall.

“Are you thinking the same thing?” He said, glancing from the hole to the candlestick on the ground.

Tom slowly nodded. Andre made to kick the opening in the wall further, but winced painfully and Tom pushed him aside with a roll of his eyes and kicked the rotten wood through himself. exposing the staircase within.

They both drew their gun as Tom entered first.

“Semir?” He called out experimentally and his voice echoed through the darkened basement, meeting no response. The stairs creaked loudly as they both descended and soon Tom saw the bright outdoor light across the room, flooding in and highlighting the ground.

It was quickly aparent that nobody was down there as they neared the trap door leading out, but Tom’s eyes fell to the ground at the debris now clear in the daylight and he froze in place, Andre bumping into him.

“What?” Andre hissed.

Tom blinked and pointed on the floor with his gun. “That.”

Andre’s gaze fell down and immediately recognized what they initially believed to be debris, to be scattered bones. Andre pushed one with the tip of his shoe, sending it clattering out of the way.

“I’m not an expert at forensics, but those look like human bones.” He said grimly.

Tom nodded and looked up at the opened trap door.

“I hope Semir’s okay.” He muttered.

At the mention of his name, Andre pushed past Tom and went up the stairs to the trap door. When he emerged and Tom made to climb up after him, he heard his colleague exhale loudly.

“Fuck.”

Tom looked up. “What is it?”

Andre took several steps forward, slightly leaning to his side as he stared somewhere around the corner.

“I found Semir’s car.” Andre said bluntly and Tom quickly climbed out to follow him. Sure enough, as he took several steps out and followed Andre’s line of sight, they could see the back of the silver BMW poking out from around the corner and as they carefully approached it, they came upon a grizzly view.

First thing that hit them was the massive blood spatter across the side of the car and the body laying in a pool of blood beside it. They both walked around it in mute shock , Andre’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the corpse, but it was quickly apparent this was a large man and definitely not his lover.

“What the hell happened here?” Tom breathed out in disbelief and knelt by the man, turning him to the side, when he was met with the blank dead stare, he knew there was no point in checking the pulse.

“It’s Henke.” Andre said, looking down at the corpse’s face. Tom’s eyes fell on the bloody handgun laying close by and his brows knitted tightly together. 

“That’s Semir’s gun.” 

Andre nodded silently.

Tom wiped the sweat from his brow. “Jesus christ….”

Andre’s looked over at him and saw as his colleague picked up a crumpled up photograph off the ground. “What’s that?”

Without a word, Tom raised up towards him and Andre took it. His eyes widened and within the next second, he tore the photograph in half and Tom narrowly jumped out of the way as Andre delivered one harsh kick to the deceased man.

“Sick fuck!” Andre spat, ignoring the pain that went shooting through his body as he irritated his injuries. “He took a photo of me, the sick fucker actually took a photo!” Andre yelled even as Tom pushed him away from the body before he mutilated it any further.

“Stop it, Andre, he’s dead. It’s over.” Tom said, meeting Andre’s furious gaze.

“It’s not over, Semir’s still gone.” Andre hissed. “If Henke hurt him-”

“He can’t be far if he left on foot, he might have headed towards the highway, it’s the closest from here. Let’s split up and look for him.” Tom said with finality. “That is if you feel well enough, I can go-”

“I’m fine, let’s go.” Andre declared, already marching into the open woods.

\-----

Semir felt a violent shiver run through him as he walked and he glanced down at his bare feet, already dirty and bruised from the rough terrain, he didn’t even know how far he got or how much time have passed. There wasn’t any sound beside the quietness of a forest, wind pushing the old and new branches back and forth and the occasional rustles of leaves.

He was cold and lonely.

As he wrapped his arms around himself, he realized perhaps the two were more combined than he thought.

His eyes raised to the path ahead and he knew that he likely wasn’t that far from reaching the road, but he couldn’t say he felt much relief at the thought. What would happen when he’d get there? He’d flag someone down, return back, let his colleagues deal with the mess he left behind and he’d go home.

Alone.

He swallowed tightly.

Again.

Because that’s the way it was now and as much as he figured he should have been used to it, he couldn’t help but feel the world falling apart around him all over again like it has years ago.

Living without Andre was difficult, but he managed. He could do that now, too. When he’d get back he’d adjust, it would take a while, but he knew he could do it. Andre would want him to.

Semir’s steps faltered and he came to a stop. His mind now clouded with only one thought.

He was really alone.

And suddenly he just felt too drained to keep going, instead, he dragged himself to a nearby tree and sat down, his back pressed against the trunk as he pulled his knees against his chest, his eyes staring at nothing ahead.

He’d get up and continue in a bit. There was no rush. He just needed a moment.

He only closed his eyes for a brief moment before he heard a distant shout and opened his eyes again. He listened for a moment and briefly believed he just imagined hearing anything, but there it was again, someone calling. He looked up, eyes searching through the trees as the voice grew nearer and Semir could hear his name being called out.

Soon there was a figure and Semir slowly pushed himself to his feet, taking several cautious steps to the clearing, the figure coming to an abrupt halt and staring right at him.

As it bolted towards him, Semir recognized it was Tom, he opened his mouth to ask his partner how did find him but then he was enveloped in a crushing hug and his partner let out a sigh of relief.

“Semir, thank god, are you alright?” Tom quickly pulled away, looking him over anxiously. Semir nodded, still surprised to see him. Tom patted him on the cheek affectionately and smiled. “We’ve been looking for you for hours, I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I see.” Semir said.

Tom frowned at the numbness behind his partner’s words and squeezed his shoulders gently. “Henke’s dead.”

“I know.” Semir replied emotionless. “I killed him.”

“Semir, I’m sure you did what you had to-” Tom said softly. 

“I wanted to do it. He took Andre from me.” The look Semir gave him in that moment was one Tom hasn’t seen yet. The naked pain reflecting in his eyes made Tom’s heart ache and he couldn’t even begin to imagine the grief that must have been going through his best friend’s mind. He almost forgot about the photo they found by Henke’s body.

Unable to look at the unbearable sadness in his partner’s eyes, Tom looked away and squeezed Semir’s shoulder, he pulled out his phone out of the pocket and dialed a number. 

“Hey, can you go back to the mansion? Just...just go back, I’ve got Semir…” Tom glanced up at his partner who was staring at him with uncomfortably empty eyes. “He’s...okay.”

After he hung up the phone, Tom removed his coat and threw it over Semir’s shoulders and nudged him back towards the house.

“Come on, it’s closer there than to the road.”

Tom kept his mouth shut until they got to the mansion and only when Semir’s eyes fell to the banged up BMW, pained expression spreading across his face, did he curse quietly and searched for his goddamn colleague.

He better not have fallen over somewhere.

At last, Tom saw the colleague in question coming into the view, Semir’s gaze still fixed on the car and failing to notice. Tom waved at Andre furiously, pointing at Semir and cleared his throat.

“You know that I wasn’t the only one looking for you here?” Tom started and carefully turned his partner around to face the approaching man in question and Semir’s eyes widened at seeing the limping but definitely alive Andre making his way towards him.

Semir was completely speechless, staring at his lover in shock even as he came to a stop right in front of him and he looked awful, bruises blooming all over his face, dried blood sticking to his hair, his clothes all ripped and that discolored hand definitely didn’t look right, but Semir’s hands automatically moved to his lover’s face, Andre still breathing hard from trying to get back as quickly as possible, his eyes fixed on the smaller man with desperation and need and relief.

And love.

“Andre…” The words escaped Semir’s lips so brokenly and Andre genuinely struggled to keep himself together. They haven't seen each other for hardly a week, but after everything, he felt like he was looking at his lover after another painful year of separation and he wanted nothing more than to hold him close and kiss him senseless until that sadness was left behind as nothing more than a bad memory.

Instead he reached for Semir’s hand on his cheek and turned it to his lips, pressing a kiss to his palm and drawing him close, practically wrapping Semir’s numb arms around his own neck, guiding his lover to seek the comfort he so desperately need. They both needed.

“I’m okay, little bird.” Andre whispered against his ear and felt arms around his neck finally move on their own, holding on tightly as a sob escaped the lips hiding in the crook of his neck. “We’re both okay.”

The sobs turned into quiet cries and all Andre could do was rock them both gently from side to side, running his good hand over the lower back of his traumatized lover, trying to soothe him, he felt the weight of his own mind slowly but surely drop and dropped his forehead to the top of Semir’s head, letting out a shaky breath.

“Everything’s going to be okay now.” He promised and believed it. They were together again.

Tom quietly walked away, returning to their car to call for reinforcements. It was time to close the case.


End file.
